Rackspace Email & Apps - Initial Signup Process

Email is a vital part of any online business. However, a mail server can be one of the most challenging and frustrating aspects to configure.

We are pleased to announce that we have simplified the process by introducing Rackspace Email and Apps for Slicehost customers.

This article will walk you through the basic steps of the signup process to ensure that adding email to your slice is as smooth as possible.

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Rackspace Email

Rackspace email allows you to easily setup and configure mailboxes for your domains with added spam and virus protection. The service is also compatible with common applications and devices.

To learn more about this service, please visit the Rackspace Email and Apps Home Page.

Slicehost can provide its customers with discounted pricing for this service: you get 3 mailboxes at a cost of USD $3.00 per month, and you can add any number of mailboxes to your account, at $1 per mailbox.

To qualify for the the discount, use the promo code supplied in the SliceManager.

Note that this discount applies only to Rackspace Email. It does not apply to their Microsoft Exchange service.

Assumptions

This article assumes that you have already purchased a domain from a registrar and are now ready to setup email for this domain.

Additionally, you will need to provide a fully working telephone number where you can be reached by Rackspace's support staff following signup.

Initial Signup

The first step of the process is to navigate to the sign up page.

From here, you would choose the best selection that fits your business needs. Assuming you have 10 or fewer employees, let's click the radio button that corresponds to this option.

You will notice that columns to the right will be populated with 10 mailboxes and a $10 monthly cost, as you have not yet entered our promotion code.

Go ahead and click Next Step to move onto the meat of the ordering process.

Domain & Billing

On the page provided, you want to enter your domain name and select the "I own this domain" option.

Good.

You would then fill out the Account, Contact, and Billing Information using your personal information.

Hold on. Don't click the Next Step yet, as this is where the promotional code comes into play.

Promo Code

To locate the promotional code for your account, you would need to access the SliceManager.

Upon logging into the SliceManager, you would look to the left hand side of the screen where the promotional code for your account would be visible.

You need to enter this code in the Sales ID box on the Domain & Billing signup page that you just filled out.

Alright, you are ready to move on to the next step: reviewing the information you've already provided.

Review

Under the Mailbox Summary, you will notice that it lists the total amount of mailboxes purchased as 10 and the price is still reflected as a $10 monthly total.

However, after the 14-day trial the amount charged to your card will be $3 dollars, assuming you have no more than 3 mailboxes configured for your account.

After confirming the details on the page, let's click the Purchase button to finalize your purchase.

Confirmation

After submitting your purchase order, you'll receive an email from the Rackspace Email & Apps team.

Dear Valued Customer,

Thank you for choosing Rackspace as your email hosting provider. Your order for domain.com is being processed.

If you have any questions or need to check on the status of your order, call us at 1-866-392-3336 ext. 4.

To contact our Transition Team, visit (and bookmark) the Rackspace Email Support Site at http://www.rackspace.com/apps/support

The Transition Team
Rackspace Email & Apps
1-866-392-3336 ext. 4

Within a few minutes you should also receive a call from a Rackspace employee at the telephone number you provided during signup. Once the security questions presented by the employee are confirmed, the purchase order process should be finalized.

NOTE: You can alternatively confirm your order by calling Rackspace Email & Apps directly (866-392-3336) or via live chat with their support team.

Upon completion of the order, you will receive an additional confirmation email from Rackspace.

Conclusion

As you can see the signup process is fairly simple.

You can now move onto creating the necessary MX records for your domain(s).